A moment in the presence of time
by Liberum.Arbitrium
Summary: You wake up in this body, in this life, the end. No explanation, no purpose, only being, you see people who do not exist, you see things that should not be real, some moments are beautiful, others you are horrific, this life is unkind and cruel, but it is mine, and that's enough . An OC self insert done right, marauder era.


**Authors**** Note: Prue, a halfblood slytherin has somehow ended up as Prudence Lilith ****Potter, a girl version of harry Potter and is expected to do all the crazy shit which Harry got himself into; she isn't exactly happy about it. Language and adult themes. Story in T for now, but most likely M later on.  
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******Disclaimer, I don't know why I am even bothering to type this, I don't own Harry Potter****.**

* * *

**Prologue**

_"The old man got to cussing, and cussed everything and everybody he could think of, and then cussed them all over again to make sure he hadn't skipped any, and after that he polished off with a kind of a general cuss all round, including a considerable parcel of people which he didn't know the names of, and so called them what's-his-name, when he got to them, and went right along with his cussing.."  
_Mark Twain

Prue looked out of the window, everything was peaceful and quite, the side of her lips quirked upwards at that. Sometimes she was struck by how utterly normal everything at Privet Drive was, she didn't miss the irony in this.

Turning her head around she glanced at the muggle clock on the small table next to her bed and let out a sigh. The little hands signaled it was almost a quarter past seven. Prue's dearest aunt would be here to 'wake her up' soon, she learned by now not to mess with the routine and life style of her, for the lack of a better word, family.

Prue, of couse, had been awake for some time now, not that she minded, mornings where really the only time she had some peace, save the loud thunderous snores from her uncle. She was just one of those people who never needed much sleep to function.

Usually she would wake up around sunrise, either reading a book or entraining herself with something else, but today was different. Looking out the window again she hoped to find some sort of shift in the horizon, a small shape that as it came closer was identifiable as an owl caring a letter with a Hogwarts seal on it.

Prue was nervous, not that she would every show it, but the letter should of come by now, back when she was actually herself, the Hogwarts letter came almost a month before her eleventh birthday. She had many speculations towards this, the first and lease worrying was that in this time period or dimension and the letter came closer towards the witch or wizards birthday, briefly she could remember her aunt Fey, saying her letter came a week after her eleventh birthday, this reassured her slightly, but she was sure the letter should of come already.

The more worrying theories were that since she technically an adult already, her letter won't be sent at all, or the Hogwarts quill which writes the names of magical children down will bare her name before this whole mess. Even though these thoughts were steadily driving her insane, everything was riding on her actually getting into Hogwarts.

Fate had given her a run down of what would happen, telling her things would roughly go as the did before, although after the rebirth things can go how they please. Prue frowned at that, she doubt things would be that easy, closing her eyes she took a deep breath and thought back to how she ended up in this mess, she blamed that fucking quill.

* * *

_It was late summer, and Prue was sitting on the floor of her room, legs crossed and eyes closed, she was wearing a muggle summer dress, and had a rather lazy smile on her face. It was rare when she wore muggle clothes even rarer for her to be sitting on the floor, but today was the exception, she had no problem with acting like a child right now. The sunlight was shining through her window, lightening up the room. All around her were boxes filled with her possessions neatly staked thanks to the wonders of magic. Her room was the same as it had been for the past fifteen years, she moved out of the nursery when she was three._

Prue should of called her father up to help move these items to her new flat, then start to decoriate, but Prue herself wasn't quite ready yet. It was rather idiotic, just a few weeks ago she graduated from her final year at Hogwarts, received six NEWT's, four O's and two E's, was accepted as an apprentice for Gringotts as a trainee warder, which started in two months and officially rented her first apartment in london.

Prue was a fully pledged witch, feeling equal parts of excitement and wariness towards starting her life as an adult. Her father, a world worn muggleborn Ravenclaw who lived through both wizarding wars, never believed in refraining information from children to protect their innocence, he was a Unspeakable who studied the Veil of death in the death chamber, he didn't speak about his work often, just that the reactions of people seeing the veil vary around how much belief or scepticism they had about what lies beyond.

Prue's mother was a halfblood slytherin who married her father right out of Hogwarts and died when she was only a few years old, Prue herself didn't personally remember her mother, just blurry images of a brunette woman singing a lullaby and reading a story to her, there were other little things, but those were most prominent.

The second war ended before she was even four years old, but her father lived through both wars, hunted for his blood and orphaned during his second year when Voldermort was just starting to gain power, he talked about the war often, and his paranoia was drilled into her head before she could even walk.

Prue's aunt, her mothers sister who was a healer for St Mugos had stumped this somewhat when she was six and interrogated Aunt Fey with her fathers wand in hand for over an hour after her father told her about the polyjucie potion and what it could do, no one in her small family was surprise when the sorting hat screamed Slytherin after a few moments on the stall.

Prue found herself thinking about her childhood frequently, she guessed it had to do with the fact she in a junction between childhood and adulthood, how poetic. Opening her eyes she stood up, stretching slightly and looked around her room one more time, thinking of what else needed to be done. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a small quill on the floor, lifting her fingers in the correct movements she non verbally floated the quill off the floor and into her hand, she smiled, Prue truly did love magic.

Glancing over at her wand, 10" inch hazel with dragon heartstring back on the desk, when she bought it at elven the wand shop manager told her it was made by Ollivander himself, hence the triple price tag, Prue's Grandmother often told her the wand chooses the wizard, and apparently back in the day Ollivander was the best, it has been almost a decade since he died.

She walked over to her bed and slumped down, twirling the quill in her hands as she did so, the quill was slightly broken at the head, it looked familiar though, thinking about it Prue smirked when she remembered, this quill was the she charmed it to write 'ok' when Thom Montague asked her on a date to Hogsmeade during her fourth year.

Lifting her fingers up she made the quill twirl and dance wandlessly, humming a tune while lying in her bed watching the it swirl around. Her father was down stairs, most likely locked in his office writing away while muttering under his breath drinking his fifth coffee of the day, lost in his own little world which centered around work.

She was moving out this afternoon, Prue would of gone sooner if her over protective and paranoid father hadn't decided to personally ward the flat for around three days, ignoring the fact Prue was quite capable of doing this herself, Prue guessed it had something to do with not wanting her to leave yet.

Thinking about it Prue was planning a small house warming party in a few days, knowing her father the wards were going to make that complicated, she groaned at that very thought.

Just after making the quill do a somersault a small rush of air ran through the room, looking up Prue was greeted with the sight of a girl, around fourteen years old perhaps, standing in the middle of her room. Prue had to bite her tongue to stop herself screaming, her body stiffened but other than that there was no outward reaction.

Prue looked at the girl for a moment, she looked quite pretty, in an odd way, she had long straight hair that ended at her waist, the thing was, her hair was the exact color of blood, so red that it could not be possibly natural, to be honest Prue wasn't sure magic could turn hair that red, even muggle hair dye couldn't replica that shade. She was tanned, and was wearing a very short bright green dress with bright purple wellies which ended at her shins.

Those clashing colours, which should look like a rainbow vomited then committed suicide on the girl actually quite good, in a odd way. Her face was pretty, but the eyes were shocking, they were purple, not that plum or violet color, but a neon purple so bright Prue was sure that the shade of purple wasn't even on the spectrum.

This of course, hopefully didn't show on her face, thanks to her father, she knew the basics occlumency, and using that had her mind organized and a shield around her mind, although not a very strong one, it took her years to sort out her mind, the shield was a recent addison.

The girl smiled and said "Hello" In a accent Prue didn't recognize, it sounded like a cross between a young Australian who had raped an old sea sailor irishman and produced a Jamaican baby who was raised in Asia. Prue momentarily was quite proud by the fact she could remember that joke when some hufflepuff spilled a fucked potion on herself and ended up sounding like, as pre described for a few weeks as a side effect.

Ignoring her rather insane thought, she watched as the strange sounding unnamed girl sat down on one of the boxes directly infront of herself, Prue blinked and with a strained smile said. "Hello."

The girl looked slightly disappointed. "Just hello? No screaming or anything?" The girl frowned. Prue knew her face was relatively expressionless right now, but her mind was on fire, the wards around this house had been built up over twenty years, Prue would honestly be surprised if Merlin would be able to break them. She knew how they worked, even if somebody could get past every single one of them, the alarm would be screaming, her father would tear up here, rip the door off it's hinges and then shove a porkey in her hand, this had happened once when a bird somehow gotten past the wards and landed in there yard.

She didn't know who this girl was, but there was a unnatural aura surrounding her, it unnerved Prue, taking a breath Prue decided to break the silence.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Prue asked, slowly sitting up on the bed, that wasn't the question she wanted to ask, what she wanted to ask is why are you here, how did you get pass the wards and such, but she would start off small, her wand was right next to the intruder, she could float a feather and light a candle, but when it came to wandless magic that was about it.

The girl smiled. "My name is of no importance, but if you want you can call be Fate." She said with a big grin, this didn't calm Prue, in fact it did the opposite.

"And what are you doing in my bedroom?" Prue decided to skip straight to the point, if this girl wanted her dead, or information concerning her fathers job, things would not be moving this slow, she had a feeling in her gut that whatever was going to happen, it had nothing to do with either of those things, she wasn't sure weither that was a good thing or a bad thing yet.

She raised her eyebrow and said. "Your Prue, correct?" Answering a question with a question, not very subtle, with a short nod Prue glanced at her wand slightly, it was right next to Fate, she could jump out and try to grab it, but she wasn't a gryffindor, so many things could go wrong with that plan, she would be an idiot to try it. She ignored the voice in the back of her head that asked what other plan do you have then.

Fate's grin grew larger, and leaning forward, as if she were about to tell a secret, she spoke in an excited voice.

"Well congratulations Prue, you are being offered a chance at a new life full of fame, glory, riches and adventure." Fate was bouncing up and down so fast it looked as if she was vibrating. Prue was both unimpressed and slightly pissed, her facial expression spoke for her. Reasoning she was still at the disadvantage, in the most polite voice she could muster, she plastered a smile on her face.

"Well as exciting as that sounds." She couldn't hold back as some sarcasm spilled out. "I do not want fame or glory, as they usually involve reporters, enemies and the masses, as for riches, I can't say I'm against it, but I rather earn it myself, I'm sure their is are plenty Gryffindors that would kill for what your offering, and of course a few stupid HufflePuffs." She finished with her poker smile still holding strong, that statement wasn't true, but it worked well enough for the situation.

"Really" She asked, she seemed to be pondering for a moment before asking. "What about the Ravenclaws and Slytherins, or the rest of the Hufflepuffs?" She asked in a curious voice, tilting her head.

Prue smiled at that question, crossing her legs she replied in her most slytherin drawl. "Well" She began, putting the information that she knows about Hogwarts but obviously wasn't a student aside.

"Ravenclaws and Slytherins usually give some thought into what would happen if things were to go wrong, and some Hufflepuffs, simply put, have some common sense." This was her rather blunt answer, but it was enough for Fate, who nodded and gained a glint in her strange grey eyes.

"True, 'though it seems bias towards 'he Gryffin'ors, don't you think?" Fate resounded brightly, her accent sounding very thick.

Prue shifted forward, moving myself closer to my wand but kept a look of thoughtfulness on my face, speaking carefully I replied. "True, but Gryffindors often see things as black or white, no matter what side their on, they plan for the best and do not expect the worst, they don't think things through and have no self restrain, which makes them rather idiotic, don't you think?" Was Prue's retort, she knew her words were bending the truth quite far, but fuck it, lying is fun.

Fate started to laugh at this while Prue wondered were father was, and if he was ok, and if he was, why was he not here yet ready for war ripping the door off it's hinges with his bloody hands. Fate after a few moments stopped laughing and looked straight at Prue, then said.

"That is why I'm picking you kid, your just too sharp, so congrats, you can take this knew life and do anything you want within certain perimeters." Prue with a too innocent expression asked.

"What are the Perimeters?" She was trying to work out what the hell was going on, but in till then, she might as well act like she had some idea of what was going on. She did notice the reference as her being a child and not having a choice in whatever was going on, her pride aside it was best to shut up.

Fate chuckled lightly. "Smart girl. Not everyone asks that. Well, you can't directly kill Voldemort untill he is re born in the cemetery, things have to roughly stick to how they were originally done. No idea why, actually I do, it's so things go my way, but that's the Perimeters for you." She winked and started to look around the room.

Prue noticed this was for her to have some time to think, using this opportunity her very soul was screaming at her that things are very wrong indeed. Voldermort was killed nearly fifteen years ago, and what Fate described sounded like the what happened after the chosen one witnessed Voldermort regaining his body, it was written in her history text books, besides everyone knew who the chosen one was and...

"You insane." Prue said, realizing what Fate had been implying, "Your Fucking insane." She looked at Fate in astonishment, a expression rarely seen on her face.

Fate looked mildly surprised, and noted her with a approving tone. "Well that was very impressive, rare they work it out so quickly, and to answer your question, yes, I am insane, now lets go, I have a lot of rules to go through with you, and trust me, you want to know every single one of them."

_With those last words Fate stood up and whatever she was about to do was interrupted with Prue reaching out for her wand, planing to curse and run like hell, only to slip on that fucking quill and tumble right into Fate's arms. Prue didn't realise she dropped the quill, of that it was even possible to trip on one. Fate gave another laugh as she said. "Good try, maybe next time" And with that the two of them disappeared in a gush of wind. _

* * *

Prue opened her eyes and looked out the window again, no sign of an owl. Thinking about the past wasn't something she did often, considering the fact everything before meeting Fate was sort of hazy, and she was stuck in a parallel universe it just made her depressed. She was still herself, emotionally and mentally at least, but that was what landed her here in the first place.

After Prue was kidnapped by fate, she tried to get home and out of wherever the hell she was, she tried to fight, bargain, scream, every thing she could think of really, but Prue wasn't thick, she learned she wasn't geting out of this anytime soon, so after she accepted this Prue got a rundown of how things were going to work, apparently in another plane one girl who lived stubbornly decided to climb a tree her cousin said she couldn't because she was too short, fell and broke her neck, but since that world was roughly the same as hers, save the whole boy who lived was born a girl, that plane of existence needed another heroine, because that girl who lived wasn't meant to die, hence her, the replacement.

Prue was confused to why fate picked her, sure she didn't want any part of it, but logically, there were better options, there were many other girls in the world who were brave, selfless, pure hearted and such, but that was Fate's problem, the world in which the girl who lived broke her neck was a middle ground plane, when Prue asked what that was, she received an eye roll and a lecture of how the universe works.

* * *

"Choices." Was how Fate began. "Everything in life comes down to choices, for every choice that could of been, a new dimension, which also are called planes are created. The universe is infinitive, expanding and never ending, planes are worlds were one key choice or event has effected the that world, they to are never ending, similar planes are called fields, simple enough to remember, your field is on earth, one were magic exists. Your field is full of millions upon millions of planes, there are hundreds of thousands just like this one, but with one key difference which shapes that entier plane.

Overall this field is relatively balanced, think of it as a spectrum, one side, the virgin worlds there called, is a place were there is no dark magic, everything is gentle and pure, on the other side is the dark planes, and when I say dark, I do mean dark, it's a sick and evil place were there is nothing but pain and misery, although depending on your moral character it can be quite fun, surprisingly enough the dark planes are usually better than the virgin worlds, most of the people there are brain washed from birth, at least in the dark world people have character.

This is were you come in Prue, your plane is what can be referred to as middle ground, although it leans towards the darker side of the spectrum. This plane was shaped by a choice, everything in this certain field centers around what happened leading up to the rebirth of Voldemort, it dosen't matter which side wins, things will change in time, but as long as things go as certain key points happen till then, this field reminds balanced, yet most of those key points involve the girl who lived. Who unfortunately right now happens to be dead."

Back then Prue still hadn't fully excepted what had happened yet, still in shock. Although looking back on it, she realised how cunning Fate was. Fate explained things in such a way that never had Prue questioning the things she should of, giving her enough time to gain some sort of understanding, but not enough to fully process it and point out the problems within the information.

"To answer your other question." She continued after a pregnant pause, "I chose you because I like you, your'e smart, cunning, humble and honest to some certain extent and have rather unique view of the world, yes, you have your flaws, emotionally screwed, paranoid, selfish... And sure, there are plenty of perfect, powerful and pure hearted girls out there, but, here's the thing Prue. Magic to its very core is chaotic and flawed, it's not natural for somebody to be perfect, flaws are good for magic, and in this field, perfection just dosen't work out.

Besides, while I could of picked a naive, selfless, brave and sweet girl who is a gryffindor to the bone, were is the fun in that, I picked you for a reason Prue, mainly for your name and the convenience of it, but also for your personality, your character, remember that. Now come on, we have a lot to go over."And with a wink Fate began to tell Prue the rules, the limitations, and every other fact Fate thought would be useful, before showing her t_h_e life of Prudence Lilith Potter, and what would of happened if she hadn't died at nine years old from a broken neck.

_ Once that had been completed, Fate broke her mind shields and changed the lay out, organising her life before Fate in a small section in the back of her mind warded so no body but herself and Fate would ever be able to enter that section, a basic shield surrounded her newly organized mind. Unfortunately, Fate felt that an amzingly indestructible mental shield was out of the question for some reason, so with that Fate when over every key point which had to be completed, again and again till every word was memoriesd and burned in the back of her head._

* * *

Prue pulled herself out of that memory, she needed to stop thinking about the past, it did nothing but piss her off, she knew what was to happen, the rules she had to follow and the things she had to do. Blurry as her life was before the meeting of Fate, she was still Prue. So when a series of rappid knocks were beaten against her door, she stood up, took in a deep breath and walked towards the door.

** End Prologue **

So, Prologue is done, now you don't have to read this to get the story, hell it isn't even written well, but it dose explain hopefully how and why Prue is know Prudence Lilith Potter. Oh, and I swear on all that is holy and good that Prue will** NOT** be a, dare I say it, _Mary sue_, shivvers, next chapter should be up soon, review with any ideas or criticism would be great, all Ideas welcome.


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